Alumni Updates
Class of 2000 - 2009

(date) = added since last newsletter

Becci (Dale) Anderson (MS Geography 2002)
Becci is a Monitoring Specialist with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board where she uses her geography/mapping skills as a part of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds monitoring team. She and Bill Anderson were married in 2002, and they live in Corvallis with their zany dog Z. (2004)

Pete Bower (MS Geography 2005)
He’s been on quite a roller coaster for the past 6 months, including two moves, cycling for 2 weeks down the West Coast, a short construction/painting stint, a trip to Wisconsin, and plenty of Corvallis to Portland driving, but now has landed a really cool job working for a small Portland company, Watershed Sciences, http://www.watershedsciences.com, which does hydrologic modeling, GIS, and remote sensing. He works mostly with an aircraft mounted sensor (LIDAR) that shoots laser light at the ground surface and then collects the reflections to calculate an elevation, similar to sonar. Once the information is collected, it is processed and can be viewed in 3D and overlaid with other geographic data. The company is investing in the most advanced LIDAR system, the first in the world to have it. Working out the bugs should be an interesting challenge. The company primarily focuses on clients in the Northwest, but he may go on a job to North Carolina soon. Now living in Forest Grove but will soon set up a more permanent home in the Portland area. bower.pete@gmail.com. (2006)

David Brastad (BS Geography 2000)
Working as a GIS Analyst with AT&T Wireless Services in Redmond, WA.  Mostly perform analysis related to wireless network build-out and design.  Also maintain various geographic data/information in relation to where wireless service is offered (zip codes, demographic info, wireless coverage maps, etc). (2004)

Bryan Ciecko (BS Geology 2004)
I currently work for an environmental consulting company in Portland called Ecology & Environment Inc. I am engaged to be married to Amy Bean who graduated from OSU in 2004 with a B.A. in Spanish. The picture is from the spring 2004 field trip to South Africa. (2005)

Ryan Dermody (MS Geography 2001)
See Lori Slane (MS Geography 2001) (2005)

Eric Dickerson (BS Geology 2003)
See Allison Osterbur (BS Geology 2003) (2005)

Dave Easter (MS Geography 2000)
Spent the summer in Alaska fishing and now lives in Minnesota. Dave’s fellowship is going well in the Lake Superior Basin area. He plans to attend the Coastal Society Conference in Rhode Island in May. (2003)

Andrew (Drew) Eriksson (MS Geology 2003)
Has been working in Indonesia since 2003 as an exploration geologist for a small oil and gas company.  Currently living in Jakarta , but spending half time in the jungles of Borneo mapping and exploring remote areas in NE Kalimantan, Indonesia.  ateriksson@continentalenergy.com. (2007)

Josh Gates (BS Geography 2000)
GIS Technician and Analyst for CH2M Hill in the Corvallis Office. (2003)

Sebastian Geiger (MS Geology 2000)
After receiving a PhD from ETH Zurich in 2004, moved with wife Stephanie Boschung and daughter Olivia to Imperial College London. In February 2006 took a lecturer position at the Institute of Petroleum Engineering of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Will be setting up his own research group in computational hydrogeology that also will liaise with geologists at the University of Edinburgh. sebastian.geiger@pet.hw.ac.uk. (2007)

Carmelita Guiterrez (MS Geography 2000)
Carmen, Bernie, Helen and Fluffy purchased their first home and moved in on January 14th, located in Moreno Valley, California (Riverside County). It's been a great adventure, and they really like their new environment. Come visit them when you can! (now they're really out in the middle of nowhere, but if you visit in the summer, Bernie can make you a great smoothie to drink). (2004)

Jason Harpole (BS Geography 2004)
Has started a job with North Willamette Research and Extension Center as a Bio Research Technician. (2005)

Kendra Hynes (BS Geography 2001)
Contracting with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and has working in the Cartography Department making Refuge Boundary Maps. (2002)

Chad Keith (MS Geography 2004)
Plans to be married in October 2006. (2006)

Derik Kleibacker (MS Geology 2001)
Moved from Houston to Anchorage with wife Annie and son Miles in 2005. Is still working for ConocoPhilips as a sequence stratigrapher, currently focused on the regional tectonostratigraphic framework of Alaska’s Brookian Foreland Basin. Derik.W.Kleibacker@conocophillips.com. (2006)

Kelli Larson (PhD Geography 2005)
In the fall, she will be starting a tenure-track Assistant Professorship at Arizona State University in Tempe. Her position will be a joint appointment between the Department of Geography and the International Institute for Sustainability. (2005)

Sam Littlefield (MS Geography 2005)
In June of 2006, Sam took a position as a GIS and data analyst with Tetra Tech EC in Portland. In that capacity, he spends most of his time conducting suitability anlayses for wind resource development throughout the country, though mostly from a cubicle. He has embraced the matrix of pavement and parks by purchasing a cyclocross bike, on which he spends most of his free time. sam.littlefield@gmail.com. (2007)

Peter Martin (MS Geography 2004)
Pete is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the Spatial Information Research Centre of the University of Otago in New Zealand, on a New Zealand International Doctoral Research (NZIDR) scholarship. (2006)

Eric Mayes (BS Geography 2002)
Working for the BLM at the Burley, Idaho field office. Eric is working with water resources. (2002)

Steve McClung (MS Geography 2005)
He and Amy are enjoying the winter in Fairbanks with newborn son Elyjah. Is helping the Alaska Satellite Facility tie up loose ends on two web-based projects and at the same time is getting some experience in the world of volcano remote sensing with a possible PhD program at the University of Alaska to start in the Fall. Continually discovering why, other than the job, they are in Alaska. smcclung@asf.alaska.edu. (2006)

Claire McKee (MS Geology 2001)
Moved to Arizona and started teaching at a high school. The school is a blue-ribbon school and 90% of the students go to college, and the students have the highest SAT’s in the state. (2002)

Ryan Mitcheltree (BS Geology 2000)
Living and working in Los Angeles as a geologist for the firm Hart Crowser Inc. (2003)

Melinda O'Donnell (BS Geography 2003)
Has been working at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for over 3 years, first as an Analyst/Programmer in the Land Records Information Section and now as a Natural Resource Specialist for the Alaska Coastal Management Program, helping to manage Alaska 's 44,000 miles of coastline. (2006)

Doug R. Oetter (PhD Geography 2002)
Assistant Professor of History and Geography at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, GA, located only 35 minutes from hometown Macon and under 20 miles from the family farm. Working on ways to grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, and herbs in the Georgia heat, with the hopes of one day running an awesome breakfast/lunch kitchen. (2004)

Allison Osterbur (BS Geology 2003) and
Eric Dickerson (BS Geology 2003)
We met our first year at OSU as geology students, and are now married with a beautiful new daughter, Mariel.  She was born on March 24th, 2005.  We are living in Bend, Oregon and Eric has just accepted a position working for Kleinfelder Inc.  (2005)

Kevin Pendergast (BS Geology 2000)
I live in Anchorage, Alaska with my wife, Rochelle. She is a Beaver also, and a mechanical engineer. Rochelle and I live in a house we bought in 2003 and have renovated rather extensively. Our current recreational focus is sailing (see the attached photo - we are the ones on the right). We have 2 beagles, one black lab mix, and no kids quite yet - but stay tuned.  I work as an engineering geologist for R&M Consultants, Inc., where I have been employed for nearly 5 years. I am in the process of earning a second degree in Civil Engineering, with the intent of focusing on Geotechnical  Engineering. (2005)

Heather Petcovic (PhD Geology 2004)
Currently in her second year as an assistant professor at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, with a joint appointment between the Geosciences
Department and the Mallinson Institute for Science Education. She has been revising and teaching a geology course for future elementary school teachers, which is designed to improve their knowledge and interest in earth science. She continues with her geologic research on feeder dikes to the Columbia River
flood basalt flows. Her husband Mike Winkler is an environmental consultant for Secor International, Detroit. Their first baby Jessica Lauren Winkler was born on November 10, 2005, and they are looking forward to the adventure of parenthood. heather.petcovic@wmich.edu. (2005)

Jarrett Price (BS Geography 2000)
Working for David Evans & Associates (Portland Office) in the Survey Department. Jarrett is the Instrument Person on field crew. His duties include: construction staking, cadastral, topography, R/W and GPS Surveys. (2003)

Tom Rodhouse (MS Geography 2002)
I work as an ecologist for the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program. Casey and I have a baby, Isabel Louise Rodhouse, born March 10, 2005. We are still living in Bend, Oregon, and having a very nice time. (2005)

Martin Roy (PhD Geology 2003)
Martin has just received an offer for a tenure-track assistant professor position at University of Quebec in Montreal. He is finishing his post-doc at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. (2005)

Marisa Salsig (BA Geology 2000)
Joined a small geotechnical-consulting firm in Portland in 2001 called GeoStandards as staff geologist. Marisa was married in June of 2001. (2002)

Eric Sfetku (BS Geography 2002)
Working for the University of Washington Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks, WA for over a year. The center’s website is http://www.onrc.washington.edu. (2004)

Lori Slane (MS Geography 2001) and
Ryan Dermody (MS Geography 2001)
Married in April. Living in Bishop, CA (about 250 miles from LA). Ryan has worked for CalTrans for 4 years and Lori is with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power - Watershed Resources. (2005)

Rachel Sours-Page (PhD Geology 2000)
Chris got a job with the Public Defender's Office in Twin Falls, Idaho and started on Aug 2. We're currently renting a house in TF, but plan to buy as soon as we find something we like. I'm still working for Xcel Energy on a contract basis, telecommuting from Twin Falls. (2004)

Jessica Spiegel (BS Geology 2000)
I've worked for the past 4+ years in Portland, Oregon for Ecology and Environment Inc, an environmental consultanting firm based out of Buffalo, NY. I do a range of environmental work with a focus on NEPA permitting. (2005)

Erin (Hille) Stout (MS Geography 2000)
Moved back to Oregon from the Seattle area with her husband and purchased a home in North Albany. Erin has been working for CH2M Hill. (2002)

David “Zan” Strausz (MS Geography 2001)
Zan was fortunate to land a job near his ancestral home in Washington State as the main GIS person in a small electrical utility—Franklin County Public Utility District. Most of his time is spent managing a GIS mapping system involving
lots of database management, general network administration, and software support and development in a kind of one-man-band environment. It’s lots more fun than being a tiny cog in some larger organization. Their daughter recently received her MS in psychiatric nursing and a Nurse Practitioner’s certification.
Their engineer son just became an Ensign in the NOAA Commissioned Officer
Corps and is assigned to a ship based in Seattle. dstrausz@franklinpud.com. (2005)

Lawrence Sullivan (MS Geography 2002)
Working for the Washington State Department of Ecology in Olympia, WA. (2003)

David Theirl (MS Geography 2003)
Shortly after graduation in 2003 David was hired to work for the US
Army's Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) program in Hawaii.  He
moved to Oahu and worked out of historic Schofield Barracks performing
environmental analysis and mapping on eight training areas spanning
several of the Hawaiian Islands.  Almost three years later he was
offered to manage his own ITAM program for Army training areas in the
state of Texas.  He made the switch from aloha to yee-haw and currently
resides in Austin. (2006)

Steve Tolzman (MS Geography 2001)
Water Quality Planner with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks in Seattle, Wash. He and his wife Wendy live in West Seattle and have a 4-year-old son, August. They are also very close to completing an adoption. In
early 2006 they will travel to Thailand to bring home their new daughter Kritsana, who was born in April 2005. Steve.Tolzman@metrokc.gov. (2005)

Anna Versluis (MS Geography 2002)
Student at Clark University in Massachusetts. Anna is on a committee that is looking at how to improve the graduate program there. (2004)

Peter Wampler (PhD Geology 2004)
Well we are finally sort of settled out here in Michigan. We had an uneventful (thankfully) trip across the country with our rock-laden U-haul, and we all survived the trip. There were some long days of driving though. western Michigan is not as different from the Willamette Valley as we would have thought, they raise a lot of blueberries and nursery plants in the region we are living in and they even have peaches and apples, which I was a bit surprised by. The girls and I start school on Monday so we are bracing for a bit of a scramble.
Peter Wampler, Assistant Professor Grand Valley State University, Department of Geology. (2004)

Elizabeth White (BS Geography 2002)
With the GIS staff at the Virginia Beach office for Michael Baker Jr., Corp. (2002)

Jonathan Williams (BS Geology 2000)
Has worked for BP Alaska in various parts of their Prudhoe Bay operations since graduating. Currently is the Subsurface Lead for the Orion and Polaris viscous oil developments. His technical specialty has become geocellular modeling, and he is getting dangerously close to becoming a reservoir engineer. He and his wife Janelle adopted their first child Abigail earlier this year. She has been an absolute blessing, and they look forward to raising her in Alaska. They have found a great community there, especially for cycling and triathlons that he has competed in since they moved to Anchorage. willijon22@yahoo.com. (2005)

Daniel Wise (MS Geography 2001)
Hydrologist with the USGS Water Resources Division in Portland . He works with the Yakima Basin as part of the National Water Quality Assessment. He is studying the effect of agricultural practices on water quality in the basin. (2002)

Nathan J. Wood (MS Geography 2002)
Working as a Research Geographer for the US Geological Survey in Portland, Ore. Was recently asked to coauthor a 10-year strategy for geographic sciences at the USGS. Current research focuses on community vulnerability to natural hazards,
especially tsunamis on the Oregon Coast and volcanic lahars at Puget Sound. In 2004, married Shelby Oppel, a journalist who covers higher education issues for the Oregonian. nwood@usgs.gov. (2005)

Shira Yoffe (PhD Geography 2002)
Finished her Ph.D. and moved from Oregon to Washington , D.C. Shira is working at the State Department in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Scientific Affairs. (2002)

Chris Zanger (MS Geography 2004)
Has a new job out of Portland with New Urban Research, http://www.urban-research.info , a progressive social research company that specializes in teaching courses to social-services, not-for-profits, and nongovernmental organizations. He is an authorized ESIR instructor and teaches a GIS course on mapping communities and working with census data in GIS. The work involves traveling to various cities around the country. zanger@gmail.com . (2006)

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last updated January 31, 2006 by ncs